Gilroy
– Slower speeds and dusty air might irk some residents, but
plans are on track to upgrade Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Eventually, the dust will clear and things will get back to
normal. Those residents then will be rewarded for their patience
with a new and improved Santa Teresa, including new sidewalks and
bike lanes, a wider road and a smoother ride.
Gilroy – Slower speeds and dusty air might irk some residents, but plans are on track to upgrade Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Eventually, the dust will clear and things will get back to normal. Those residents then will be rewarded for their patience with a new and improved Santa Teresa, including new sidewalks and bike lanes, a wider road and a smoother ride.
Work to widen the thoroughfare from two lanes to four between First Street and Longmeadow Drive continues with construction now beginning on the road’s new soundwalls, said city traffic engineer and project manager Don Dey.
Crews from Granite Construction have demolished the first portion of the soundwall along the boulevard’s west side, from First Street north to Mantelli Drive. Base construction for the new west soundwall will begin next week, as will grading of that side of the road in preparation for street widening.
Traffic is shifted to the far east side of Santa Teresa, and the speed limit is reduced temporarily to 35 mph in the construction area.
When street widening is complete on the west side in early 2005, traffic will be shifted to the new pavement and work will begin to widen and construct soundwalls on the road’s east side. Median construction and landscaping will take place next summer, with the project’s scheduled completion in late 2005.
One of the most noticeable changes to the boulevard will be the absence of potholes, thanks to the new layer of pavement.
The project’s total pricetag is $7.5 million.
One resident of Delta Drive, a street backing up to Santa Teresa, said the construction noise hasn’t bothered her when she’s home in the evening, but she didn’t know how noise levels were during the day.
It’s not so much the noise as it is the dust floating through area resident Christine Morales’ windows and settling in her home that irritates her.
“I think they could put more water down on the site so it’s not so dusty,” Morales said. “The noise I can deal with. It’s the dust that gets to me.”
The eventual hope for residents bordering Santa Teresa is that noise of a different kind – the whirring of traffic – won’t be an issue. The new 10-foot soundwalls will be two feet higher than the old ones, although the newly widened boulevard will lie considerably closer to residents’ backyards whose homes back up against it. The raised walls also might impair some residents’ scenic views.
Amber Vanetti and Damaris Valdez, receptionists at Visual Edge Optometric Group on the corner of Santa Teresa and First, said that although they don’t hear noise inside their building, it’s hard to hear much else the moment they step outside.
More inconvenient than the racket, though, is the ever-changing route into work, they said.
“The lanes change so much you don’t even know where you’re going,” Valdez said.
The city ran into a roadblock of its own in April, when three property owners with land in nearby neighborhoods refused to grant the city right of temporary access to their backyards so crews could work on the roadway.
However, the snags were resolved before reaching litigation, Dey said. One of the landowners refused to sign a contract with the city granting right of access but instead submitted a written letter of permission, which the city accepted.
“The city talked things through with the families and gave them specific information about the project. They managed to work out the differences,” Dey said. “There was 100-percent cooperation there.”
For updated information including schedules, general traffic information and photos, visit www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/engineering/santa_teresa_widening.html.
